A Day At the Park
by Puppets Blizzt
Summary: juststandstill's BWR Challenge. Pre-Raincoats and Recipes. Luke and Lorelai go to a baseball game. During one of the innings, what could happen but the classic "Kiss Me" song? Luke and Lorelai are put up on the screen. Then what? Twoshot. Complete.
1. Forced

**juststandstill from gilmore-fiction's challenge:**

**Pre Raincoats and Recipies. Luke and Lorelai go to a baseball game to get away from stars hollow. And during one of the innings they play the game where a song plays (like kiss me) and they show couples up on the big screen at the park to kiss. Luke and Lorelai get put up on the screen...you take it from there, but i would love to have the crowd chant "kiss her" to Luke. Can be one-shot or multi chapter. **

**So here it is. It's going to be a twoshot, by the way. C: I thought I'd put it up here and there, just because there's more than likely two different audiences on each site, and, well, I love Fanfiction. :3 **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, for if I did Luke and Lorelai would have gotten together sooner.**

* * *

She couldn't believe she was here.

At a baseball game.

With Luke Danes.

Of all the places she could have been, she was at a baseball game. Possibly the most boring baseball game in the history of baseball games. The one team hadn't even made a hit yet! She voiced this outrage to the man beside her, who only looked at her in horror.

"Do you know how historic that is?" he questioned.

"As historic as the White House? Cause the White House is pretty damn historic," she replied.

Luke just stared at her. He could tell she wasn't having a good time, but with the game as good as it was, he couldn't leave to take her home.

"Look, I'm sorry I dragged you here-"

"No, I wanted to come. Stars Hollow is just so hectic right now... this was good. I like it, really," she lied.

Luke stared at her for a moment; just a moment. His eyes were narrowed.

But as the sound of wood hitting a baseball his head shot back to the game, baseball cap in a tight wad between his hands.

"Hey, Luke?" she asked.

"What?" he asked absently.

'What's the score?"

"Look at the scoreboard," he responded.

"Yeah, but I don't know which team is which. Are we rooting for the home team? Or the away team?"

"Home team," Luke replied.

"Which would be..."

"We're winning, alright?" he sighed impatiently.

"We?" Lorelai asked immediately, "We're not playing baseball, they are!"

Luke sighed in annoyance, "Okay. The white team is winning by 3, get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

Sighing, she sat back in the seat, unable to focus on the game. Her mind wandered to the crowd. All of them seemed to be hooked on the game, so why wasn't she?

She looked at Luke. His eyes were narrowed in determination with a sort of focus that couldn't easily be swayed. She watched absent-mindedly as the ball sailed into the air and past the field into the stands. Home run. And then, she giggled to herself, watching as the massive crowd on the other side of the stadium converged together in a desperate attempt to find the ball.

"It's just a stupid baseball," she commented, mostly to herself.

"It's not _just _a baseball," the man on the other side of her said, "It's _the _baseball. Hit by the best hitter on the team."

"Yeah, but he didn't even _touch _it. So what's the big deal?"

The man made no response, looking pointedly at Luke as if to say, _control this woman._

Luke only shrugged. What could he do? When Lorelai had something in her mind, she wouldn't change it easily.

"So uh, what's the score now?" Lorelai asked.

"Now we're only winning by two."

"_Again _with the 'we!'" Lorelai exclaimed.

Luke rolled his eyes, "Why don't you go and get some food. I'm sure once you have something in your system you'll shut up."

"Oh, mister," Lorelai teased, "you obviously don't know me very well."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Just don't go overboard."

He handed her a few bills and Lorelai made her way through the seats to the concession stand.

When she returned, she had a plate of fries. Luke stared at her incredulously.

"What did I say about going overboard?" he scolded like she was a four-year-old.

"I resent that statement!" Lorelai argued, "There's not _that _many! And they're for both of us!"

"There's enough to build a fort here," Luke replied.

"A _small _fort," Lorelai shot back.

Luke went back to watching the baseball game, leaving Lorelai to eat her fries in solitaire.

Well, this was a disaster. Not only had she agreed to come, but she was bored. There was nothing to do. Nothing to occupy her time with. And it was only the third inning. _Now… how many innings are there again?_ She tried to remember what she had read in the truck on the way to the game, but nothing came to mind. Her heart hadn't really been in it, most likely the reason she couldn't think of anything. She had only skimmed the pages, too, not really determined to focus solely on the words. She thought for a moment. _Why had she agreed to come? _Baseball games were as boring as hell, she knew that, so why had she agreed to accompany Luke to the game? Now that she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure. Things in Stars Hollow had been a little crazy and she just needed some time away. She had fought with Sookie over preparations for the Dragonfly, and she needed a little time to think it over. But she wasn't doing any thinking here. Not about the Dragonfly, at least. No, at the game, her thoughts were mostly preoccupied with Luke.

Why had he asked her to come to the game? She, Lorelai Gilmore, of all people? Then again, Luke wasn't exactly known as Stars Hollow's friendliest person. So he probably didn't have that many friends. She remembered him talking to Ed a lot though… so why not invite him? But then she remembered that Luke had snapped at Ed just the other day – or, it seemed like it – for God knows what. So why her? They were just friends. Nothing special. But maybe, she thought, that was the whole reason. _They were friends. _Friends couldn't hang out together? Of course they could. It was normal when she was a teenager, and it was fairly normal now. Fairly. Her heart raced for a moment. _Was this a date?_

She didn't see many older friends go out and do something together unless it was a date. But this wasn't a date, was it? She decided it wasn't. It was a _baseball game_. What kind of date was that? Her heart rate slowed slightly, having been satisfied with her conclusion that the baseball game did _not _classify as a date.

She looked around. People were standing up.

"Is the game over?" she squealed. She hadn't meant to voice her thought, but she did. And she was a tad over-excited about it too, for she noticed the look in Luke's eyes. He knew she wasn't having much fun. "I mean… is it over?" she dropped her tone several octaves lower, making her sound depressed.

Now, Luke couldn't help but laugh. Lorelai's sense of humor did that to him. In a way no one else's did. Her sense of humor made him laugh, while others' merely made him grimace in disgust. He was the surly diner owner who didn't talk to anyone, and yet he was falling in love with Lorelai Gilmore.

No, wrong.

_He was _in love _with Lorelai Gilmore._ He had been; right from the start. As soon as she set foot in his establishment that momentous day seven years ago, he knew she was the one for him. But he hadn't done anything, really, about this feeling. He had let it pass, tried to make it go away. It was clear she only thought of him as a friend, just the man who served her coffee. So he tried to think the same of her; just the woman he served his coffee to morning, noon, and night. But the feeling was impossible to surpass, Rachel had seen that. That was why she left him three years ago; because she knew he was in love. With Lorelai Gilmore. It hadn't been easy – in fact, he had royally failed – to hide his adoration. He did everything humanly possible for Lorelai and her daughter, Rory, but she still seemed to be unaware. There were times where he thought she knew, times when he thought they would be together at last, but then something would happen and it seemed nothing would go right.

He stared at her, a small smile decorating his face.

"No, it's just a small break between the innings. There's still a little ways to go," he replied.

Lorelai sighed visibly, unable to hide her obvious disappointment.

Then, the music drifted into her ears.

_Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight__  
__Lead me out on the moonlit floor__  
__Lift your open hand__  
__Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance__  
__Silver moon's sparkling__  
__So kiss me_

She laughed joyously. Now here was something she enjoyed. She prodded Luke's arm and pointed to the large screen. It flashed live videos of couples in the crowd, a border of hearts around each video. And in each video, the couple shared a passionate kiss in front of thousands to the cheering and clapping of the crowd around them.

"I love this," Lorelai commented. She had never been to a baseball game before, but this precise moment just might have caused her to consider coming again. Sure, she'd have to sit through several innings to get to it, but it was worth it to see such happy couples.

Luke turned his head to look at her. _And I love you_, he thought. But that sounded cheesy, so he didn't say it out loud. And they were off to a great start, why ruin the moment with his personal feelings? Especially when he was surrounded by so many strangers. Yeah, just what he wanted; Lorelai making a scene in front of complete strangers because he had said one little thing.

Lorelai noticed him watching her and turned her head. "What?"

"Nothing," Luke said quickly. He turned back to watch the screen, the song still playing and couples still kissing.

And then the feed switched, showing a very amused Lorelai and a slightly-embarrassed Luke. Lorelai stared up at the screen blankly, her expression unreadable. She didn't blink. She didn't move. She didn't breathe. One could have thought she was a statue. And Luke's posture was no different; he sat rigid in his seat, his hands turning slightly pale. Color flushed his face, but it might have been impossible to tell with all the stubble around his cheeks and chin.

_Go away, go away, go away. _Lorelai chanted in her mind, but the cameraman just a few feet below didn't move, and the video on the screen didn't change. It was obvious the screen wasn't going to change until they had kissed. She blinked once. Only once. She allowed herself to move, shifting uncomfortably where she sat.

_If nothing happens, they'll change. They have to change if we're the most boring couple on the planet. _Luke thought. But they weren't a couple. _If we're the most boring _people_ on the planet, _he corrected. His logic didn't seem to work, however, for still the camera remained trained on them.

He had imagined their first kiss, of course, but he hadn't imagined it like this. At the baseball game with thousands of people watching. No, he had imagined it back in Stars Hollow, back at Lorelai's house – or the diner, for that matter. Just not here.

A full thirty seconds had passed before someone said something.

"Kiss her!" a voice shouted. This brought Luke to reality. His hand twitched and he turned to face Lorelai. Lorelai's head turned slightly, but the rest of her body remained as it was.

Still, they made no other movements. By now, the man had gotten the rest of the crowd going.

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" they chanted in failed unison, making Lorelai blush. She dipped her head in embarrassment, but it was then that Luke caught her, his hand flying to her chin.

His touch sent a shiver through Lorelai's spine. Not a bad shiver, like she was scared – not that she wasn't – but a good shiver, one that meant she was nervous or excited. Oxymoronic, wasn't it, that his touch made her nervous _and _excited? Luke's hand lifted her chin up so that she would meet his gaze. His blue eyes were calm, inviting… like the ocean. She smiled.

He didn't know what made him do it, but suddenly his hand whipped out to catch her chin as it fell towards her chest in embarrassment. No, he couldn't bear to see Lorelai embarrassed or sad. He couldn't. So many times he had seen her that way home in Stars Hollow, and he had taken her out to the baseball game so she could be happy. Sure, she was bored, but at least she wasn't sad. As he raised her head so that her eyes met his, he found himself lost in her eyes. She smiled, but he barely noticed. He was entranced, enthralled by her bright blue gaze that searched his face.

Egged on by the onlookers, he leaned in. A few people drew a collective breath. They had been waiting for it, even though they didn't know either of them. The camera had been watching them for over a minute now. It was clear they weren't a couple – or maybe they were just an awkward couple – but the crowd didn't seem to care. They wanted entertainment, and said entertainment came from couples kissing – whether they were truly couples or not.

And then he kissed her. There was cheering from the crowd, who had been waiting well over a minute for that moment. It was nothing passionate, however, and ended almost as quickly as it began. It was clear neither was exactly willing to part, but both were uneasy about being in front of a whole baseball crowd and therefore split rather quickly. Now they were both embarrassed again, dipping their heads and averting anyone's gaze. People's words flew in one ear and out the other, their comments unheard by either. The video feed on the screen changed to another couple, and the tense stance each had taken relaxed considerably.

The rest of the game passed normally; Luke went back to watching the game while Lorelai sat idly beside him. She was silent the remainder of the time, her mind swimming with thoughts on the scene that had just occurred.

_It was just a simple kiss, Lorelai. Calm down._ No matter how many times she repeated it in her head; she couldn't get it to pass correctly through her mind. This was Luke Danes she was talking about, not some man off the streets. Not that she'd kiss a man off the streets… but that wasn't the point. Luke Danes; the best guy friend she had; the closest thing Rory had to a father; the man who served her coffee every morning; the reason she couldn't commit herself to Max; the man she thought she _might _love. It wasn't just a simple kiss; no, that was a _massive _understatement. It was something much more; just as she longed for it to be.

But Lorelai wasn't the only one with thoughts. It may have seemed like Luke was watching the game, but honestly, even he didn't know the score now. His head was turned towards the game, but his eyes were so foggy with memories he wouldn't have noticed if a ball came sailing straight for him. And unfortunately, it did. There was little anyone could do in warning, the ball speeding towards him at an ungodly speed. He didn't even notice the baseball until it was too late; until it whacked him upside the head. It had lost speed as it flew through the sky, of course, but that didn't mean the impact didn't hurt. The ball landed neatly in the baseball cap in his hands, and under any other circumstance he would have smiled proudly. But as the circumstances were different, he clutched the side of his head in pure agony, letting out a string of curse words, uncaring who heard them. The pain hurt like hell, and he would make damn sure everyone knew that.

Lorelai snapped out of her thoughts, letting out a small gasp of surprise as the ball landed thickly on Luke's head. She could hear the impact from where she sat – which wasn't much of a surprise as she was seated directly beside him – but the impact was still quite loud.

"Oh my God, Luke!" she shrieked, "Are you okay?"

Luke swung his head in response, but that only worsened the pain. He let out a groan, his hand still pressed against the side of his head.

"Here, move your hand. Let me see," Lorelai offered. Luke did as she asked, dropping his hand just slightly. Blood coated the palm of his hand, and a little patch of broken skin lay just near his ear.

"Ewww, you're bleeding! Cover it up, cover it up!" Lorelai turned her head in disgust, and Luke replaced his hand over the wound.

"The game's over soon, right?" she asked.

Luke started to nod his head, but thought better of it. The guy behind him replied for him; yes. The game was almost over.

"Okay, so we'll get you home and all patched up as soon as it's over," she decided.

Luke sat silently, mumbling a soft, "okay" in response.

As the game drew to a close, the stands were eventually deserted in just a few minute's time. Lorelai and Luke sat in his truck, Lorelai at the wheel due to an ailing Luke.

"You can't drive a stick," Luke commented suddenly.

"Sure I can."

"No you can't," Luke argued.

"No, I can drive a stick. It's just that your truck and I have a few problems. Like the fact that it's misogynistic and gender-selective," Lorelai explained.

"Let me drive," Luke sighed.

"I don't think so, mister. I have you here with me, so we'll be fine. We'll go home to Stars Hollow and we'll fix you up all nice and pretty."

"Great," Luke groaned under his breath.

* * *

**Love it? Hate it?  
I don't care, review it anyways! C: **


	2. Willed

**It's been ages since I updated anything. o.o Once again, I lost my muse.**

**But no worries, I adopted a new one. Her name is Ace. I have several now, in fact; Ace, Birkin, Java, and, well... I haven't named the fourth one yet. x) Not to say there will be another update immediately in the next few days, but I've got my muses to keep me inspired throughout writing the next few updates. **

**So anyways, this is the last installment of A Day At the Park. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. Why? Because if I did I would be named Amy Sherman-Palladino. **

* * *

Lorelai and Luke returned to Stars Hollow in one piece despite Lorelai's constant bickering with Luke's truck, which had a new name by the end of the ride: Ernie. When Luke had asked why, Lorelai launched into a long, babbling rant about _Sesame Street _and PBS in general.

"—And they cancelled 'The Big Comfy Couch!' That was Rory's favorite show as a kid!"

"Really? I would have thought that she watched the History channel or something."

The two had arrived at Lorelai's house and were now making their way across the lawn.

"Oh, no. There's just something about a talking doll that doesn't really talk but the woman-slash-clown thinks she does so she's really talking but you can't hear anything so she's actually not…" She had spoken so rapidly and without taking a breath that she paused for air before finishing, "that a little kid just _loves._"

"You lost me at 'talking doll,'" Luke said after a moment's silence.

Lorelai laughed, guiding him up the steps, across the porch, and under the threshold of the Crap Shack.

"Hasn't changed much," Luke observed.

"Hasn't changed at all," Lorelai corrected.

"Right, of course."

Lorelai settled Luke on the sofa and then hurried off, tossing an "I'm going to fetch a band-aid" over her shoulder as she flew up the staircase.

"I don't think a band-aid is gonna work…." Luke commented doubtfully.

"Nonsense," Lorelai scoffed, "You have yet to witness the _magical _healing powers of Lorelai Gilmore and band-aids."

When she returned, she carried a box of band-aids, a wet cloth, a dry cloth, and an empty bag. Hurrying into the kitchen, she filled the bag with ice and returned to Luke, who seemed zoned out on her couch.

"Here," she thrust the damp cloth at Luke.

"What do I do with it?" he asked dumbly.

"Wipe off the blood, then—eww!"

Luke had done as she sad while she talked and then proceeded to set the cloth on the table. "What?" he asked horrified that he had done something wrong.

"Great, now I have to burn that, too," she muttered.

"Lorelai, how could you _possibly _be scared of blood? Hasn't Rory gotten herself injured thousands of times?"

"Uh, no."

"I seem to remember a certain girl falling off her bike multiple times across the street from the diner," Luke objected.

"Yes, but that was only that one week. The week she was obsessed with bike-riding. She got over it and never fell again."

"You went roller skating after that," he remembered with a pointed look at Lorelai.

"So?" Lorelai asked.

"So…. Rory fell that time, too. And then you went back to biking for a little while… and she fell a _third _time."

"Luke Danes," Lorelai smirked, "have you been stalking me?"

"What?" Luke stammered, "No! Why would I stalk you?"

"Because you find me incredibly attractive," Lorelai teased.

Luke said nothing in response. His mouth was turned up in a small smile, and he cast a sidelong glance at Lorelai. He heaved a small laugh, his shoulders rolling slightly. Lorelai smiled at him, her eyes narrowed with humor. What was with him?

"Alright, let me look," she conceded, seating herself beside him. He turned his head compliantly, and Lorelai inspected the wound with great care. "You're not bleeding anymore," she commented.

"That's good," Luke stated lamely. She nodded her agreement. Tentatively, she reached towards him with an outstretched finger. He let her do so, closing his eyes briefly to clear his mind.

But as she brushed over the side of his face, his eyes flickered open. His breath caught, his heart skipped a beat. She touched him. It was a simple act of caring, but it still felt the same as so few years ago, in his diner when Sookie and Jackson had been on their first date.

_" Every little touch," Lorelai spoke fondly, " is incredible." She touched Luke's arm. Then, his breath had hitched too. He glanced strangely at Lorelai, but she didn't seem to notice._

"_Mm-hm," he managed to reply._

_Lorelai smiled in reminiscence, "God that's a good feeling." _

_Her smile. Bright enough – powerful enough – to put a similar smile on anyone's face, even the surly diner owner of Stars Hollow._

"_It is at that."_

"_I miss that," she remarked sadly._

"_You'll have it again," he responded knowingly. She would have the same feeling again, he knew it. He had the same feeling every day; When their hands grazed upon passing the coffee cup across the counter, when she hugged him for his unfailing support, when she patted him on the shoulder for saying something smart. Every touch was stored in his memory, and the one just previous became a firm stone in his mind as well._

"_Mm...I guess…" Lorelai trailed softly, almost disbelievingly. _

"_You know," Luke faltered, "maybe sometime we could..." But before he could even get his question out – the one he had worked up the courage to begin to ask – he was interrupted by none other than Mrs. Kim. He would have cursed her, but somehow he felt that in doing so she would find out one way or another, even if he had done so silently. So instead, he merely thought angrily to himself a simple word. Drat. No curse words – Mrs. Kim terrified him too much to even consider such a thing. She scared all of Stars Hollow, even her own daughter. But the – oh, screw it – the _damn _woman _had _to make an appearance _now_?_

Mrs. Kim had ruined everything. She had burst in at precisely the _wrong _moment. But that was okay, because he knew he'd have his chance again. He'd had his chance _several _times since then, but they were all shattered in one way or another. But he wouldn't mess it up now.

He _couldn't _mess it up now. Her simple act – the brief brush across his face – was now lodged in his memory, the tingling feeling where she had touched him stored as well. He shifted nervously.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked after a prolonged silence.

"You'll live," Lorelai laughed.

"Oh, good," Luke feigned relief, "I have no one to leave the diner to."

"You will," Lorelai replied without a moment's hesitation. She blinked in confusion. Had she really just said that? She looked taken aback, her head tilted slightly to the side out of confusion by her own words. She sat motionless for a moment, before she shook her head and snapped out of her dream-like state. With a short, calming sigh, she set back to work.

She wrapped the bag of ice in the dry cloth, dulling the frigid feel of ice through plastic. Then she placed the ice on the side of his face and held it there effortlessly.

"You know, you didn't have—you didn't have to do this," Luke muttered.

"Ah," Lorelai argued, "but I did. For you see, if I didn't, you'd go home, sit there in your apartment, and do absolutely _nothing _to fix this."

"And the problem is?"

"The problem is you're not Mr. Invincible," Lorelai replied instantly. They sat in silence for a few minutes. _Awkwaaarrdd. _

"So uh… hi," she smiled lamely.

"Hey," Luke breathed.

"So uh… the game—"

"was good."

"Err, yeah. And the fries—"

"Better."

"Not better than yours, surely," Lorelai laughed.

"It's close," he admitted. More silence. They were going chronologically throughout the day, and they were drawing closer and closer to the moment of the kiss… and the moment Luke got nailed with a baseball.

"And uh… the kiss was…"

It was clear they had entered risky waters. Luke shifted nervously and Lorelai immediately looked down in embarrassment.

"We… kissed…" Lorelai offered, "You… Luke the surly diner owner Danes… and me… Lorelai bagel hockey is a real sport Gilmore…kissed…." She was rambling now, filling in awkward moments with nonsense and fillers.

Lorelai thought desperately for something else to say. It was odd, this. They rarely hung out anymore, Luke being preoccupied with his diner and whatnot. They had rarely hung out _outside _of Stars Hollow, at that. And she being preoccupied with opening the inn, there really wasn't much time for hanging out. Things were hectic with the inn, but it was slowly starting to come together. There had been a small argument between her and Sookie and she had lost it. When Luke asked her to accompany her to a baseball game, she saw it as an opportunity to escape the harsh reality of opening a business and agreed. But when she was at the game, she began to see it as a little something more. He hadn't just asked her to go just so he wouldn't go alone. He could have invited Bootsy or Ed.

But he had invited her, Lorelai Gilmore. Was it for this particular moment? Was it an underhanded ploy to get her to notice him? Well, she had now. Who couldn't notice him after today? They had been plastered on the jumbo-tron and been forced to kiss. It was hard to forget something like that. The only question was what to do about it.

Luke struggled to find the right words. How could he describe that moment? It was a spectacular moment, even if it had not lasted long. It had still been pretty incredible. It was one of the best moments of his life, running in close second with the day he had first met the witty Gilmore. He even _still _carried the horoscope she had given him. But she wouldn't know that; he'd never tell. His thoughts went back to the moment at the park. She had been forced to kiss him, so it wasn't anything momentous, right? Wrong.

Luke was sure that he had seen her blush. He was certain of it. It was something they both wanted, he knew. But how to describe it? He was nervous. Nervous that whatever he said would offend Lorelai. He often worried about that these days. After what happened with Nicole – moving and such – it seemed everything put her on edge. Why, he wasn't sure. But it had. It had made her sensitive to anything to do with Nicole Leahy. He avoided the subject of his former wife now.

"I know," he acknowledged.

"It was a… _good _kiss," Lorelai emphasized, a small smile playing onto her face.

"That it was," Luke agreed.

"Only if it lasted a few seconds…" she added.

"Yes, true..."

"And then you got hit with the baseball. That wasn't so fun…" Lorelai mused.

"Err, no. Definitely not in my top ten shining moments," Luke agreed.

"So… what were you thinking so hard about?" Ah, the Queen of segues strikes again.

"What?" Luke asked gruffly.

"Well you _must _have been thinking about _something _to not see the baseball flying out of the sky towards your face," Lorelai explained.

"Oh…"

"Well?" Lorelai prompted.

"I was… remembering."

"Remembering?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, remembering… err… us."

"_Us?_" Lorelai was smiling.

"Yeah. Just um, good times… I guess."

"Such as?" she pushed.

"Well… that day we first met, for one… when I made you the chuppah for your wedding with Max, you crying to me in the park, helping me paint the diner…"

"Oh, _those _kind of moments," Lorelai smiled.

Truth be told, he was thinking about something else. Or, more so, some_one_. He had been thinking about the kiss with Lorelai, what it meant to him. Memories had been flashing in his mind; the past of Lorelai and Luke. Moments he had stored in his mind; their first meeting, the chuppah, Lorelai crying in the park, and painting the diner, to name a few. He had been thinking about how much Lorelai had been in his life and how much his life had been impacted because of her. He had been thinking about Lorelai when he was struck by the baseball.

The side of his face was growing numb with the ice. He fidgeted uncomfortably. He reached up to Lorelai's hand and pulled it away, the ice bag with it.

"I think it's good now," he commented softly.

She nodded.

Gently, nervously, she leaned over and kissed his jaw line. She couldn't believe herself; she had actually kissed him. She, Lorelai, had kissed Luke Danes. She hadn't done that before – not counting the baseball game. This was different. This was of her own free will. She wasn't forced to do so. Lorelai sat back slightly, perplexed at her sudden courage. "Better?"

"Sure, if I was hit with the baseball there," Luke teased.

Lorelai smiled, a small laugh playing across her face. She captured his chin in her hand and leaned in again, pressing her lips gently against the side of Luke's face. His skin was cold, most likely due to the ice pack, yet soft. She smiled against his skin and pulled back – somewhat reluctantly.

"Now?" she inquired.

"Considerably better," Luke released a small laugh, heaving his shoulders with a sigh.

"You know…" Luke rambled on, but his words went unheard by Lorelai.

In the middle of his monologue, Lorelai silenced him with another swooping kiss. She draped a hand over the back of his neck, and Luke's hand cautiously settled on her waist. She withdrew again, pulling away in order to justify her actions.

"I, uh… just… wanted to know… what it would be like," she stammered. It had been the same thing she said to Chris when she first kissed him. But this was different. She had known Luke seemingly all her life and he had been there for her through everything. She had known him for seven years. _Seven years._ It didn't seem like a lot at first, but upon further investigation, so much had happened in those seven years that made it seem like a lifetime. He had served her coffee every morning, he had been there for Rory whenever she needed a fatherly figure, he had been there for _her _whenever she needed someone to lean on… he had been there through Max, Paul, Alex, Chris _and _Jason, watching as she went through man after man. She had found someone who would be _in_ her life forever, someone who she knew wouldn't abandon her. She just… wanted to know what it would be like to kiss him, someone who had played such a big role in her life. This definitely wasn't the same as Chris. Chris hadn't been there for Rory. He hadn't been there for her when she needed him. Sometimes, when she did need him, he'd abandon her. The circumstances were different; the man was different.

Luke sat there in silence. The pain was slowly ebbing away, a new sensation taking control of his mind. He didn't know what to call it; he didn't even know if it had a name. Was it his sudden realization that he had hooked – _possibly _– the woman of his dreams? It was, after all, Lorelai Gilmore. He poured her coffee every morning, he secretly – though, not-so-secretly because the whole town, pardon Lorelai, knew about it – pined after her as she went through man after man, he supported her in times of stress and when she was down… he loved her.

He reacted instantly; he stood up and pulled Lorelai to her feet.

"Wh-what are you doing? Where are you takin—" He didn't answer. Instead, he interrupted her just as she had done; he kissed her eagerly, both hands clamped on her waist. He pulled her closer, the intensity between them growing. Lorelai wrapped both of her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him passionately.

They broke apart momentarily, just long enough for Luke to speak.

"I was thinking about you," he whispered in confession.

"Shut up, Burger Boy," Lorelai muttered.

* * *

**End to A Day At the Park. (:**

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